Even now that it’s snowing, I’m cycling to work. There’s one recent change to
my bike that pays off now: I exchanged my derailer system for a gear hub (Dutch: versnellingsnaaf). I’ve
still got the actual derailer on the bike, but that’s for tensioning the
chain.

A derailer needs careful tuning. Having a bunch of snow all over the
mechanism is a sure-fire way of having an out-of-tune derailer.

I bought a second hand hub gear (a shimano nexus 8) and spoked a wheel and
installed it last monday. Just in time for the snow! Pure luxury to be able
to switch gears without problems.